THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show

Written by Lauriston Brewster

The Emancipation Proclamation was President Lincoln’s decree in 1862 that instructed all remaining Confederate states to recognize their slaves as free individuals. Despite much opposition during the Reconstruction period, many African Americans embarked to create their own communities across the country after the Proclamation; many of these communities would be called “Freedmen Town.”

Houston’s Freedmen Town would come much later than the rest in America because even though this proclamation went into full effect in 1863, it took a full 2 years before the news even reached the most remote state of the former Confederacy: Texas. When it was finally discovered that the slave masters of the east Texas plantations had left the Proclamation on “read,” large numbers of newly freed African Americans made their arrival to Houston in 1866, settling along Buffalo Bayou’s southern banks and extending as far inland as present-day Montrose. This area, lovingly nicknamed the “Mother Ward,” was seen as Houston’s version of Tulsa’s Greenwood District and was home to several doctors, lawyers, ministers, and prominent civic leaders such as Jack Yates, Barbara Jordan and Hilliard Taylor.

Barbara Jordan

An American icon born in the Fourth Ward

The 1,000 formerly enslaved residents built Houston’s Freedmen’s Town, quite literally brick-by-handcrafted brick, into a thriving community. But the systemic forces of gentrification spurred by rapacious developers, de jure segregation, and false promises conspired to hack away at the Fourth Ward’s rich legacy. While our Black Wall Street did not suffer a tragic fate as ruinous as Tulsa’s, the footprint of this once economically viable enclave was still greatly diminished by the 1980s.

The 1,000 enslaved residents built Houston’s Freedmen’s Town, literally brick-by-handcrafted brick, into a thriving community. But the systemic forces of ravenous gentrification, de jure segregation, and false promises worked to chip away at the Fourth Ward’s rich heritage. While the area did not suffer a fate as tragic and bloodstained as Tulsa’s, the footprint of this once economically viable enclave was greatly diminished by the 1980s.

In the midst of a generational struggle to protect and preserve what’s left of the historic town, the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy (HFTC) was born. The conservancy’s mission is to support community engagement, re-education, and heritage tourism to uplift Freedmen’s Town, which is now an officially recognized Heritage City (the first of its kind) and has been hailed as the Crown Jewel of the 51-mile Emancipation Trail, a path that traces the journey of enslaved Texans starting from the birthplace of Juneteenth in Galveston to right here in Houston.

THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show is part of the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston’s ongoing partnership with HFTC through the “Rebirth in Action: Telling the Story of Freedom” project, a multiyear, multimillion-dollar collaboration between the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, HFTC and its executive director Zion Escobar, the city of Houston, renowned Chicago artist Theaster Gates, and Charonda Johnson, vice president of Freedmen’s Town Association and lifelong 5th generation resident of the Fourth Ward community.

The artwork included in the exhibition centers the histories and the present realities of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town. Informed from the archives at the African American History Research Center located within Freedmen’s Town and oral histories of living legacy residents, 12 visionary Houston-based Black artists worked alongside 2023 Lead Research Fellow Amarie Gipson and 2023 Student Fellow Raymond Burgos to create works that centered the histories and present realities of Houston’s Freedmen’s Town.

Brick maker and **The Protest Before the Protes**t, 2023 by Gem Hale. “**Brick maker** *92023) shows Reverend Ned Pullum’s home in Freedmen’s Town. Pullum was the owner of the brickyard that produced 20.000-25,000 of the town’s historic bricks per day. The Protest Before the Protest (2023) is a re-enactment of the Brick Street protest led by Charonda Johnson and Mrs. Dorris Ellis Robinson on November 14, 2015.”* (Photo courtesy: Lauriston Brewster/Bayou Current)

The Nina and Michael Zilkha Gallery, located downstairs of CAMH, was transformed into lively space that allowed the artists to tell the story of Black legacy and heritage in Houston Freedmen’s Town in innovative ways. (Photo courtesy: Lauriston Brewster/Bayou Current)

*Interdisciplinary music project Hasaan Olu gave a riveting performance on the CAMH plaza.* (Photo courtesy: Lauriston Brewster/Bayou Current)

THIS WAY: A Houston Group Show will be on exhibition from December 8, 2023 to March 24, 2024.

Major support is provided by the Mellon Foundation, as well as patrons, benefactors, and donors to CAMH’s Major Exhibition Fund. The Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston is funded in part by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.